What's so special about audition and sounds

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There are basically three types of perception that are used as a basic format to store and check information in our brains : visual, auditive and kinesthetic (means everything else, touch&taste). People have one type of perception for storage and one type of perception for retrieving information. Depending on it, people think differently.

These are reflected by the word we use. For example :
- I can see what you mean, it is not clear (visual)
- I hear you, I receive you 5 by 5 (auditive)
- I feel like doing it, that doesn't feel right (kinesthetic)

What's so special about audition ? I think that it is about relativity of sound. When you take an object, it's image is not relative to another object, there just need to be some light, and you can see it. Maybe you will need to turn around, but that's all. With a kinesthetic approach, it's quite the same: you can feel it with you hands or with your feet, it will be the same, so you can get an idea of it's surface and shape, using both visual and kinesthetic perception. But with sounds, that's different. If you take a cup of tea, if you touch another object with it, the sound will depend on the other object (a table, another cup, etc.). The sound is defined by two objects that are colliding in this case. Let's call it an "external" sound. There are also "internal" sounds: the sound of a machine, the sound of a button, etc. which really identifies the object.

So, as sound is very often "external", it is hard to tell what is going on. Our brain need to do some complex computation to guess what objects are interacting, and sometimes it's not obvious at all. So it is possible that we get insecure about this.

What do you think about it? Another idea about why sound is special?

I think I know what you mean. The sound of the wind rustling through the tree tops is perceived as neither the trees nor the force of the wind, we perceive it as separate from the trees or the wind, a sort of 'music'. Sound has a life of it's own.

When we look at the tree, our perception is of a tree, not a separate entity created when light is reflected off the tree, although the tree can look differently depending on the quality of the light or the angle of the light or the movement created by the wind, it is still a tree.

Kinesthetic is the most direct way of perceiving something. Nothing comes between your senses and the object.

Yes, there can be that sort of separation of the sound. Sometimes I feel that it is not located at all. So I feel that there is some sound, but it's like having a radio inside me and that it's not connected to something going on around me. It can be freaky, because it's somewhat like behing blind, because I am afraid I would not notice something going on around me. But I feel I can train to associate sound with things. When looking at an object, I imagine some sounds it can make. Or I imagine how it would feel if I touched it.

That separation of sound can be spooky. Your brain tries to understand what is causing it. It's an adaptive mechanism to warn us of danger. But some sounds can be really beautiful when the perception of danger is eliminated, like the sound of raindrops on a rooftop.

I want to add something more. Some sounds can be anxiety provoking but you can train yourself to let go of the anxiety and just listen, as if you are on a strange planet and are hearing them for the first time. Then it can be a really surreal and otherworldly experience.

And as for touch, sometimes when I am in a museum I have an uncontrollable urge to touch paintings and exhibits that are not supposed to be touched, but they are so textured and tactile looking, they are just begging to be touched.

I will try your technique.

I can surely understand what you say. There is so much paint on them!

Thinking about sound, I also noticed that human voice can be hard to stand. And maybe there is something similar going on as before.

When someone speaks, there is the body language (visual), but also the tone of the voice, which changes according to the situation. There is a real situation, and this situation is perceived by the person who speaks, and the voice sound is the result of the interaction of the person and the perceived situation. So again, the voice is not a simple identifier like an image (like clothes & body shape) : for example the volume can be very different, the base frequency (high pitch/low pitch), and also harmonics. The voice can be "round" or "sharp". This makes voice rather impredictable and there is way too much information to be processed consciously.

So again, there is this very interactive feature of sound with voice.

good point. There are a lot of things going on that need to be processed when someone speaks. Mabe that is why people with ASD just listen to the words and miss the body language and such. Too much information, auditory and visual, to be processed at one time. Especially if you are taking in all the qualities of the voice as they relate to what the person is trying to communicate.